The Harrelson Story

Jason Harrelson, founder of Harrelson Trumpets, was playing a 60's Bach Stradivarius in 1992. When asked to trade horns for a few minutes, he took his friend's brand new Bach Strad 37 into a practice room and was promptly blown away. The new Bach played circles around his own horn! And his friend returned the vintage Bach complaining that it didn't play very well.

This was the beginning of what has become the world's most comprehensive resource for the advancement of brass instrument technology. Jason began experimenting with trumpet design and the tedious work of dispelling hundreds of unfounded brass playing myths. Three years later, he began formally exploring the physics of sound and brass instrument design in the physics lab under the supervision of an accomplished acoustician. His mentor was the lead physicist working with Yamaha to re-design their line of acoustic guitars. Needless to say, Jason listened, learned and eventually dropped out of college to pursue his passion designing, building and performing a new breed of brass instruments. See for yourself how Jason's devotion to his craft has transformed the progress of thousands of musicians.

What is swe?

Improved response, tone, dynamics, flexibility, slotting, range and endurance is achieved by reducing the energy loss in the standing wave. Standing Wave Efficiency (SWE) is the term coined by Harrelson used as a measure of energy transfer. SWE relates to the percentage of energy in the sound wave that is transferred into motion of the tubing at the high pressure anti-nodes. Increasing SWE results in improved Flexibility, Slotting and Stability.

trumpets in the physics lab

Most of us trust our ears and the feedback of our colleagues. While listening is an invaluable asset to any musician, trumpets belong in the physics lab at least some of the time when undergoing research and development. We understand the physics of sound and have employed scientific principles to measure efficiency, tone quality, tone color, intonation, projection and accuracy in the lab. Through this approach, we are better equipped to provide the working musician with reliable and proven solutions.

Adding Efficiency with mass?

There is a common myth that adding mass will darken the tone of a trumpet. While this is not true, the myth persists. In reality, anyone can perform a simple experiment that shows the effects of adding mass. However, where was the mass added? How much mass was added? And what does the added mass change? We know the answers to these questions and, while the theory is simple, the processes of defining cause and effect are quite complex. In simple terms, our goal is to add Inertia at the anti-nodal high pressure zones within the instrument tubing.

Inertia may be increased by mass, which is at the heart of this controversy, but the result is seldom a perceived darker tone.

In fact, the result of adding Inertia in the form of mass is dependent on the following factors:

the physical position "X" along the tube where the mass has been added (Inertia increased)

the SWE value of the added Inertia

the partial(s) that are affected relative to the position "X"

the location "Y" of all partials affected relative to the overtone series of the perceived fundamental

You see, the way we interpret tone color is subjective and literally a different experience for each person. By preventing energy transfer at a defined position in the length of tubing, we are strengthening the amplitude of a specific partial relative to a perceived fundamental. The result can be increasing the amplitude of that particular partial, which changes the perceived color of a note. Now play a different note with the exact same configuration and the result is a new color on a different note. By observing increased Inertia and resulting increased amplitude of just one defined location relative to a series of notes played on the instrument, we discover the color changes to a perceived brighter on some notes, more pure on others and yet darker on other notes. However, there is no phenomenon of increased perception of darkness or brightness consistently.

The goal at Harrelson Trumpets is always to combine the following three variables to achieve the desired results;

the efficiency of the instrument exclusive of the resonating bell surface

the air volume algorithm in the form of internal tapers and curves which determine the physical acoustics; i.e. tone color, intonation and projection

the perceived tone color and projection from the player's perspective

To create a scenario where the tone of the instrument truly sounds darker on all notes consistently, we would need to either increase the air volume withing the reflected wave before the throat of the mouthpiece (cup or oral cavity) and/or after the throat within the backbore, leadpipe, bore and/or bell flare to increase amplitude on fundamentals and lower partials. The other approach would involve reducing resonance within the bell material, which technically reduces upper overtones often described as "color". Neither of these approaches are dependent on adding Inertia to anti-nodal locations within the tubing. Clients requesting a darker sounding instrument achieve the desired results by collaborating with us on all of the factors described above. Likewise, any range of tonal color, projection and intonation may be achieved by varying these specific factors.

We have established that adding mass does not darken the tone of a trumpet, so what does it do? In short, a brass instrument carefully designed with Standing Wave Efficiency principles in mind will play more easily in all registers with a more uniform tone color profile at all dynamics. The specific tone color could be bright, dark or anywhere in between based on the air volume algorithm. Likewise, projection could be varied based on the level of SWE incorporated into the design.

Our SWE Mod Kits follow the very same principles, yet the results are limited due to the specific location of the added mass. A Mod Kit will only add Inertia to the valve casing, pistons/ports and a limited area within the adjoining couplers and slides. This is sufficient to improve playability considerably especially in instruments that are more than a few years old. This is mostly due to piston and casing wear as anti-nodes within the piston ports transfer a great deal of sound wave energy into motion. We have specifically engineered SWE Valve Stems to add more Inertia at the pistons to help solve this challenge.

Now consider a stock factory-built horn, which almost always sounds brighter as it is played higher. The "brightness" is a result of poor sound wave integrity, added secondary waves and distortion. These secondary waves are created by the vibration of the tubing wall itself, which do not conform to the natural overtone series. This phenomenon and deteriorated sound wave quality both increase with each progressively higher partial as these directly correspond to the number of anti-nodes exerting force on the tubing wall. Consistent tone quality, stability of the attack and clean dynamic range suffer more as you play higher partials on a brass instrument exhibiting low Standing Wave Efficiency.

Understanding the concept of, "adding mass" is much more complex than is discussed in most casual internet chatroom conversations. The challenge is to separate the online gossip from physics reality.

inertia

We have discussed adding Inertia by adding mass, but is there another way? Yes! We add Inertia to Harrelson Trumpets through the use of FEA software, which is designed to expose weaknesses in mechanical designs. FEA is short for Finite Element Analysis and before this software, we did our work and experiments for many years the hard way by measuring vibration of the air surrounding the trumpet with a specially modified ultrasound. This technique allowed us to video record the air molecules moving inside and outside of the tubing and bell at each anti-node. By first identifying an anti-node with low SWE, we could then experiment with adding mass OR adding structural support to prevent the tubing wall from vibrating. Remember, if the tubing wall does not vibrate, then the sound wave will maintain high integrity.

Resonance

A common myth is that the trumpet should be vibrating in your hands to produce a beautiful sound. This is true and not true. Resonance plays a role in the tone color of a brass instrument and it is most often desirable. However, resonating the entire instrument is counter-intuitive as this results in decreased SWE. At Harrelson Trumpets, we specifically focus on the resonance of the bell only. Have you noticed that our trumpets have less bracing on the bell than other manufacturers? We specifically increase the SWE value throughout the instrument up to the bell, then put all of that increased energy into resonating the bell surface to create a tone unparalleled in rich vibrancy.

25 years of research & Development

Jason Harrelson has been researching and applying SWE technology since 1993 both in the lab and real world playing situations. In pursuit of lasting solutions, he has personally built over 800 unique trumpet designs and over 1300 individual trumpets as of 2018. Hundreds of acoustic, psycho-acoustic and mechanical experiments involving instrument/mouthpiece design and embouchure with thousands of students, colleagues and clients worldwide give Harrelson the knowledge and understanding necessary to match trumpet design properties with each client's specific needs.

Jason's early experiments on trumpet mouthpieces and mod kits involved adding inertia to existing designs. Today, we add inertia both through design using FEA software and specific mass design techniques to achieve added efficiency unmatched in our industry. The ultimate goal, to build the highest efficiency, variable performance trumpet weighing less than 1 pound, will soon be within reach.